Gatekeeper is a new security measure introduced in OS X Mountain Lion that allows the system to prevent the execution of code that does not meet certain criteria, such as possessing a valid digital signature from Apple's developer community. When setting up GateKeeper in the Security system preferences, you can set it so that only approved applications from the Mac App Store are allowed to run, additionally allow programs from approved developers to run, or you can set no restrictions and allow everything to run.
When the restrictions are set, you can still run unapproved programs by right-clicking them and choosing Open from the contextual menu followed by confirming that you would indeed like to execute this file. With this setup, the system ensures that the program cannot be executed on its own without explicit approval from you.
By default Apple provides these three options for setting up Gatekeeper in OS X (click for larger view).
(Credit: Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)
These restrictions by Gatekeeper are implemented through a group-based rule paradigm. By default Gatekeeper will look for a Mac App Store signature in the program and then has a group rule called "Mac App Store" that allows programs with this feature to run. In addition, Gatekeeper has another buil... [Read more]
by Topher Kessler via CNET
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